Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Tuesday, 12 February 2019 3.00pm

Venue: Meeting Room 2 - Level 3, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham ME4 4TR

Contact: Wayne Hemingway, Principal Democratic Services Officer/Jade Milnes, Democratic Services Officer 

Note: Special Meeting 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Adrian Gulvin (Resources).

2.

Record of decisions pdf icon PDF 163 KB

Minutes:

The record of the meeting held on 5 February 2019 was agreed and signed by the Leader as a correct record.  

3.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests pdf icon PDF 211 KB

Minutes:

Disclosable pecuniary interests

 

There were none.

 

Other significant interests (OSIs)

 

Councillor Doe declared an OSI in agenda item 5 (Commercial Property) because he is a Director and the Chairman of Medway Development Company Limited which would potentially be involved in future development within the vicinity. He relied on a dispensation agreed by the Councillor Conduct Committee, to enable him to take part in the discussion and vote on this item.

 

Other interests

 

There were none.

4.

Exclusion of the Press and Public pdf icon PDF 82 KB

Minutes:

Decision number:

Decision:

30/2019

The Cabinet agreed to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 5 (Commercial Property) because consideration of this matter in public would disclose information falling within paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as specified in agenda item 4 (Exclusion of Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Cabinet considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

5.

Commercial Property

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Background:

 

The Cabinet accepted this exempt report as urgent to enable confidential negotiations to take place with appropriate authority.

 

This exempt report provided details of a proposal for acquiring commercial property.

 

On this occasion it had neither been practicable to provide 28 clear days’ notice, nor provide 5 clear days’ notice of this report coming forward to Cabinet, therefore, Rule 17 (Special Urgency) of the Access to Information Rules, as set out in the Council’s Constitution, had been complied with. As the position of Chairman of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee was currently vacant, the Mayor had agreed that consideration of this report was urgent and could not be reasonably deferred until the next Cabinet meeting on 5 March 2019 to enable confidential negotiations to take place with appropriate authority at the earliest opportunity. The Forward Plan was published on 5 February 2019 in accordance with this requirement and the report was published on 7 February 2019.

 

In line with rule 15.11 of Chapter 4, Part 5 of the Constitution, call-in could be waived where any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would seriously prejudice the Council’s or the Public’s interests. In this case, a call in would delay this matter at a sensitive point in the negotiations. Therefore, on this occasion it was proposed that the call in period be waived. As the position of Chairman of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee was currently vacant, the Vice-Chairman had agreed that the decisions proposed are reasonable in all the circumstances and to them being treated as a matter of urgency and to waive call-in.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

31/2019

The Cabinet approved the acquisition of the head leases of the property identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report and the freehold properties also identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report for a price within the tolerance provided by the professional valuation obtained from Knight Frank, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

32/2019

The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Legal Officer in consultation with the Leader, the Portfolio Holder for Resources and the Chief Finance Officer to take all reasonable steps and due diligence to complete acquisition of the head leases of the property identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report and the freehold properties also identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report including obtaining necessary professional legal and tax advice and to complete all the necessary legal steps.

33/2019

The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Legal Officer in consultation with the Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources to carry out the re-configuration and improvement works to the property identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report, as detailed in paragraph 5.10 of the report.

34/2019

The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Legal Officer in consultation with the Leader, the Portfolio Holder for Resources and the Chief Finance Officer to arrange management of the property identified in paragraph 2.1 of the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.